Brake of cycles and the like.



- A. T. AUSTIN.

BRAKE 0P CYCLES AND THE LIKE.

APPLICATION TILED IEB. 6, 1911.

- Patented Aug. 6, 1912.

2 SHEETSSHEET 1.

I A. T. AUSTIN. BRAKE 0]? CYCLES AND THE LIKE. APPLICATION FILED FEB. s, 1911.

Patented Aug. 6, 1912.

2 HEETHaHEET 2.

ill y COLUMBIA FLANookAw l C0 WASHINGTON. D. c.

FFTQ.

ALFRED T. AUSTIN, OF COTTER-IDGE, ENGLAND.

BRAKE OF CYCLES AND THE LIKE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 6, 1912.

Application filed February 6, 1911. Serial No. 606,910.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALFRED THOMAS AUSTIN, a subject of the Kingdom of Great Britain, residing at Hudsons Road, Cotteridge, Kings Norton, in the county of Worcester, England, (formerly of 21 Cambridge street, Birmingham, in the county of Warwick, England,) engineer, have in vented certain new and useful Improvements in or Relating to the Brakes of Cycles and the Like, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in or relating to the brake mechanism of cycles and particularly to that class of brake mechanism in which the operating levers are of the bell crank type.

According to a preferred arrangement of my invention a bell crank lever or levers, which are combined with an existing or other external brake-work, can be disposed with that portion thereof serving as the pivotal means for oscillation, within the tube of that class of handle-bar, the mounting stem and appertaining parts of which is exactly, or substantially of the form at present incommon use.

Thus, the principal object of my inven tion is to conceal the bearing portions of the levers, combined with external brakework, without necessarily utilizing a special or unusual form of handle-bar structure. I do not however restrict myself to the use of the class of handle bar aforesaid, as features of my invention hereinafter referred to, are of value in their general application.

A further object of my invention is to provide means whereby it is no longer necessary for the brake stem or stems to be arranged at a position to the rear of the handle bar structure, as is now in common use.

A further object of my invention is to provide simple means for assemblage, by which it is possible to quickly assemble a bell crank lever within the tube of the handle-bar. My invention, in this respect, makes possible the assemblage of two conlevers, the second lever centrically disposed oscillatable bell crank being merely inserted and secured in position, within the tube of the handle bar, after assemblage of the first lever.

Other features of my invention will be referred to hereinafter and included in the appended claims.

In order that this invention may be clearly understood and more readily carried into practice, reference may be had to the appended two sheets of drawings 011 which Figure 1 is a perspective view of a cycle handle bar provided with brake-work constructed according to this invention. Fig. Q'is a central vertical section through the front member of the handle bar shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a sectional view, the section being taken on line A. B. of Fig. 2 and Fig. 4 is a sectional view looking in the direction of the arrow, the section being taken on line C. D. of Fig. 2. Fig. 5 is a front elevation showing a modified form of the invention. Fig. 6 is an inverted plan view of the parts shown by Fig. 5. Fig. 7 is a section on line E. F. of Fig. 6. Fig. 8 is a crOsssectio-nal view on the line 88 of Fig. 2.

Figs. 1-4 illustrate an application of the invention in which one brake-stem 70 as for instance of a front brake, is disposed at a position in front of the handle-bar supporting stem 9 the other brake-stem w, suitable for a rear brake, being situated at the side. The handlebar in this application, as in fact the handle-bar shown in all of the illustrations, is of the class having a hollow off set portion 9 of the almost universally adopted form, by which the horizontal part a is secured in front of and close to or in contact with the vertical part of stem 9. This class of handlebar has advantages both in strength and appearance.

The bell crank lever, hereinafter referred to, includes the shaft f, an arm 6, and an o-scillatable arm 2'.

Conveniently the shaft of the lever or levers is disposed within a tube (Z which externally fits the inside of the handle-bar. Apertures are formed at the extremities of the straight horizontal part a of the bar I), conveniently by slicing or sawing parts of the tube away at the points at which the latter curves to the extremities c which carry the grips. The hole so formed is then reamed or bored after which the tube cl is introduced extending completely across the center of the bar a, and inside the latter from one aperture to the other, the inner tube (Z being cut at right angles at its extremities 6 instead of being beveled or cut to conform with the curved part of the bar. After the inner tube cl has been placed in position it is fixed or secured within the bar in such a manner as to present a permanent connection which more over has the effect of strengthening the bar.

A pivot pin it is disposed transversely across the hollow off set portion 9, said pivot pin being adapted to carry a forwardly extending oscillatable arm 71, which serves as one of the arms of the bell crank lever. The said forwardly extending lever 2' has at its front extremity a downwardly disposed portion which passes through an aperture j and is perforated at its extremity to provide for its connection to the brake stem 70.

In order to provide for the oscillation of the stem operating arm 1', the same is provided with an elongated slot at in which is adapted to workacrank pinlprovided at the extremity of the shaft f, of the bell crank lever. The said crank pin Z may be formed integral with a disk on which latter is secured at the end of the shaft f by the serrated inner periphery n of the disk tightly fitting over the correspondingly shaped end of the shaft f or the disk may be secured to the shaft by a screw, driven centrally into the latter the head of which screw engages with the disk and prevents removal of the latter from the extremity of the lever, suitable provision being made to prevent rotation of the disk upon the shaft. The shaft f which is of diameter smaller than the internal diameter of the inner tube (Z is encircled by one, two or more washers which maintain it in the desired concentric position. The outer of said washers 0 is in the form of a collar adapted to be secured within the extremity of the inner tube to thereby close the latter. said collar and one of the encircling washers y) a coiled spring 9 is disposed, one end of which is secured to the closing collar 0 static-nary with the handle bar and the other to the washer p, which is secured to the shaft f, the arrangement being such that upon the Intermediate to the shaft being actuated in the ordinary process of operating the brake, the spring is constrained and thus enabled to returnthe lever to its normal position.

It will be understood that the retaining collar 0 is suitably secured within the extremity of the inner tube, as for instance by means of a screw 1' passing through both, and the extremity of the said screw may also pass into an elongated recess or aperture 7* in shaft thereby preventing longitudinal displacement of the latter which might otherwise result in disengagement of the crank connection. The coiled spring q may be connected to either the washer or collar by the disposal of its extremity s in one of a number of holes .9 so that by changing the connection from one hole to another an adjustment of the spring effort may be very readily effected.

It will be noted from the foregoing, that when the arm 4) of the bell crank lever is drawn toward the handle 0 of the handlebar, the shaft will be moved circumferentially and pin :12, working in slot Z, of arm 2', will raise the latter, thus actuating the stem 70. hen the arm 0 is free, the mechanism will return to its normal position responsive to spring 9.

The aforedescribed adaptation of a bell crank lever may conveniently be applied where only one lever is desired, in which case it is obvious that only one aperture would be-provided in the handle bar, the internal tube projecting out at its one extremity only and being disposed within the bar throughout a suitable proportion of the central horizontal part thereof. WVhere however it is desired to employ two bell crank levers the other lever may conveniently be fitted according to a different arrangement. In said arrangement the shaft of the lever is mounted within the tube by means of washers 79 and collar 0 as aforedescribed, the spring being incorporated in the same or a similar manner as may be desired, but instead of combining the shaft with an oscillatable arm such as aforedescribed, the shaft of the lever terminates at a point a little short of the central part of the bar a. and at its point of termination it has secured thereto an arm t which projects rearwardly through an aperture 14 in the handle bar portion 9, in such a manner that the rear extremity of the last mentioned lever is disposed at a point at the side of the vertical stem 9 of the bar being thus in the correct position for attachment to the operating stem to of a rear brake such as is at present in general use. The last described bell crank lever is preferably fitted prior to the insertion of the first described bell crank lever, and in order to provide for the connection with the backwardly extending arm t the extremity of the shaft f is serrated or formed of a square or other suitable configuration so that the arm or lever if having a corresponding aperture may be assembled within the bar after which a nut or other screw device may secure the arm to the shaft, the nut being rotated by a box spanner introduced from the opposite extremity of the inner tube. Thus by fitting the last described bell crank first, the same can be assembled by the introduction of the box spanner, after which the other bell crank lever may be introduced as aforedescribed and the whole mechanism combined with existing brake-work in a particularly easy manner.

Figs. 5, 6 and 7 show a modification in which brake stems k w are arranged one in the front of the other, in a position in front of the handle bar stem 9. In this modification an arm 11 is used in connection with each brake lever, the two arms being mounted upon the common pivot h and being operated as previously described through the pin m and slot Z. In order, however, to permit of the one brake stem 10 being disposed immediately in front of the other h each arm is provided on its inner side with a pivotal connection y by which the brake stem is pivotally secured to its respective cranklever, one crank lever being conveniently a little longer than the other.

I claim:

1. In a brake operating mechanism for cycles, the combination with a hollow handle-bar, of a shaft adapted to oscillate in said bar and having an operating handle projecting therefrom, means connected to said shaft for connection with the mechanism to be operated, and a coil spring encircling said shaft and having one end rigid with said handle bar and the other end operatively connected to said shaft, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. In a brake operating mechanism for cycles, the combination with a hollow handle-bar, of a shaft adapted to oscillate in said bar and having an operating handle projecting therefrom, means connected to said shaft for connection with the mechanism to be operated, a coil spring encircling said shaft and having one end rigid with said handle-bar, and means adjustably and operatively connecting the other end of said spring and said shaft, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

3. In a brake operating mechanism for cycles, the combination with a hollow handle-bar, of a shaft adapted to oscillate in said bar and having an operating lever projecting therefrom, means connected to said shaft for connection with the mechanism to be operated, a coil spring encircling said shaft and having one end operatively connected with said shaft, and means for adjustably connecting the other end of said coil spring rigidly with said handle-bar, substantially asand for the purpose set forth.

4:. In a brake operating mechanism for cycles, the combination with a hollow handle-bar, of a shaft adapted to oscillate in said handle-bar and having an operating lever projecting therefrom, means connected to said shaft for connection with the mechanism to be operated, a coil spring encircling said shaft, and means adjustably connecting the two ends of said spring rigidly with said handlebar and with said shaft, respectively, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

5. In a brake operating mechanism for cycles, the combination with a hollow handle-bar, of a tube extending into said handlebar, a shaft extending into said tube and provided with an operating handle, a washer within said tube rigid with said shaft, and having a plurality of recesses therein, a collar about said shaft, forming the cap for said tube and rigid with the latter, the said collar having a plurality of recesses formed therein, a spring held about said shaft and having its ends disposed in the said recesses of said washer and cap, respectively, and means connected to said shaft for connection with the mechanism to be operated.

6. In a brake operating mechanism for cycles, the combination with a hollow handle-bar, of a tube extending into said handlebar, a shaft extending into said tube and provided with an operating handle, awasher within said tube rigid with said shaft, a collar about said shaft, forming a cap for said tube and rigid with the latter, said collar having a plurality of recesses formed therein, a spring coiled about said shaft and having its one end operatively connected to said washer, and its other end rigidly positioned in one of the said recesses in said collar, and means connected to said shaft for connection with the mechanism to be operated.

7. In a brake operating mechanism for cycles, the combination with a hollow handle-bar, of a tube extending into said handle bar, a shaft extending into said tube and provided with an operating handle, a washer within said tube rigid with said shaft and having a plurality of recesses therein, a collar about said shaft forming a cap for said tube and rigid with the latter, a spring coiled about said shaft and having its one end rigid with said collar and the other end rigidly positioned in one of the said recesses of said Washer, and means connected to said shaft for connection with the mechanism to be operated.

8. In a brake operating mechanism for cycles, the combination with a hollow handle-bar, of a tube extending into said handlebar, a shaft extending into said tube and provided with an operating handle, and having a circumferentially extending recess adjacent its outer end, means connected to said shaft for connection with the mechanism to be operated, a collar forming a hearing for said shaft, and a set screw rigidly 5 positioning said collar with respect to said tube and entering the said recess in said shaft, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set 20 my hand in the presence of two witnesses.

A. T. AUSTIN.

Witnesses ARTHUR H. BROWN, HoLms F. BROWN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C." 

